Red Wings' Darren Helm sidelined by bad back

DETROIT – It’s a case of here we go again for Wings forward Darren Helm.

Helm will be sidelined through the weekend with an inflamed back, but it could have been worse.

“It wasn’t a worst-case scenario,” Helm said Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena when he learned after an MRI that it wasn’t a bulging disc he was dealing with in his back. “So you have to take one positive out of that.”

Helm has played in one game this season, last Friday against the Minnesota Wild.

“The game felt fine, it felt a little stiff near the end just sitting around,” Helm said. “The next morning I woke up, it was fine.”

“It didn’t hurt before when I was skating,” Helm added. “Then it started to hurt, so it’s a little different than before. I have to be able to skate or I’m not very effective.”

Helm missed the start of the season after injuring his back on Jan. 10 lifting weights, which forced him to miss all of training camp and the first three games of the season.

During an informal skate on Nov. 2 in Troy, Helm was hit by a puck and broke an orbital bone.

On March 17, he missed the final 10 regular season games with a sprained MCL. Then, in his first game back, the playoff opener against Nashville, he had tendons in his forearm sliced by a skate.

“It’s another setback of the setbacks that I’ve been having,” said Helm, who doesn’t know when he’ll be able to resume skating. “I talked to the doctors and they confirmed that it wasn’t too early to jump on. That was good to hear that we didn’t rush it, that I didn’t push it too hard. I’ve just got to wait for this to get healed up again.”

Carlo separationDefenseman Carlo Colaiacovo (separated left shoulder) skated for a bit on his own Tuesday. He was injured in the Wings’ first game on a check against the boards.

“As soon as I start to get more movement out of it I’ll hit the ice,” Colaiacovo said.

It’s the same shoulder he sprained at Spengler Cup on hit from now teammate Damien Brunner.

“I just got hit, from the impact from the hit, I couldn’t move it,” Colaiacovo said. “I knew right away that it was the same shoulder. It felt a lot worse. Very frustrating at the time, still is, but I just got to come to the rink, put a smile on my face every day, work my rear off to get back in the lineup as soon as I can.”

Colaiacovo has yet to play a full season in the NHL because in injuries.

“It’s been a tough first week, even just trying to sleep,” Colaiacovo said. “That’s the only thing I can continue to do, off the ice continue to get better, healthy and get myself ready to get back as quick as I can.

“It’s a tough way to start,” Colaiacovo added. “I want to be out there as bad as anything right now. It’s a good motivation for me to keep myself going, work off the ice and get it stronger.”

The move is help Detroit anemic power play, which is 2-for-26 this season.

“He’s got to move the puck,” Babcock said. “He’s a skilled guy on the back. He’s got to shoot the puck. The big thing is he’s got to grab a piece of the action. That’s up to him. That’s what these opportunities are for. You’ve got to reach out and grab hold of something and then make it your own. If you don’t, you’re not in the lineup.”

Kindl was a healthy scratch Sunday.

“When you look around, our back end we have two guys out, definitely it’s an opportunity,” Kindl said. “I’ve just got to take it and just be ready for it. Whenever I get the chance I just have to show I can play.”

Quote of the dayWings rookie defenseman Brendan Smith got to play his brother, Reilly, for a second time in a week and was asked what the basement looked like at him with three brothers growing up there.

“It was a mess,” he said. “The TV was always a disaster, the walls, everything. We used to get into a little bit of trouble, but I know that deep down inside, they were so ecstatic that we’d play this much and we had such a good relationship between us three. But we’d get in a little trouble when somebody would come upstairs with no teeth or whatever it was. It was fun, but at the same time, there were some bumps and bruises.”

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